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CMU. J.Nat.Sci. Special Issue on Nanotechnology (2008) Vol. 7(1)   33

A Study on Antimicrobial Efcacy of Nano Silver

Containing Textile

Kanokwan Saengkiettiyut*, Pranee Rattanawaleedirojnand Supin Sangsuk 

 Metallurgy and Materials Science Research Institute, Chulalongkorn University,

 Bangkok 20330, Thailand 

*Corresponding author. E-mail: kanokwan.s@chula.ac.th

ABSTRACT

 Antimicrobial activity of nano silver containing cotton fabric was exam-

ined on various kinds of microbes. The antibacterial effect was evaluated by an

 AATCC 200 test, a quantitative method. The results showed that the nished 

 fabric exhibited excellent inhibitory efcacy on Staphylococcus aureus, Esch-

erichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus methicillin resistance strain (MRSA) and 

 Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The silver nanoparticles on the surface of textile

 bers were investigated by scanning electron microscope.

Key words: Silver, Nanoparticles, Antimicrobial activity, Cotton

INTRODUCTIONSilver is known as a disinfectant for centuries and widely used in the

treatment of clinical diseases, including newborn eye prophylaxis, topical burn

wounds, orthopaedic infections (Klasen, 2000). Presently, silver is an excellent

candidate for antimicrobial nishes in textile sector (Yeo et al., 2003; Lee et al.,

2003). When silver metal has a size of nano level, the high specic surface areas

and high fraction of surface atoms of silver nanoparticles will lead to high antimi-

crobial activity comparing to bulk silver metal.

In textile goods, especially those consist of cotton ber, provide large surface

area with excellent environment to promote the bacterial growth. This often leads

to objectionable odor, dermal infection, product deterioration, allergic responses,and other related diseases. There are many types of microorganisms which cause

 public health concern. Some important examples include Methicillin Resistant

Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), Klebsiella pneumoniae, Staphylococcus epider-

midis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and  Enterococcus faecalis are common patho-

gens in wound infections (Wright et al., 1998). Therefore, antimicrobial nishing

should be necessary features of protective textile materials, especially in some

high-risk environments, such as medical applications.

The purpose of this study is to examine the antibacterial activity of silver 

nanoparticles containing cotton fabric against Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylo-

coccus aureus methicillin resistance strain (MRSA), Escherichia coli and Pseudo-

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CMU. J.Nat Sci. Special Issue on Nanotechnology (2008) Vol. 7(1)  34

monas aeruginosa which are the microbes commonly exposed to household and

hospital environments.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Nano silver nished cotton fabric samples were prepared by the Metallurgy

and Materials Science Research Institute, Chulalongkorn University via chemical

 process. The nal products consisted of 350 ppm silver nanoparticles were used in

this work. The antibacterial properties of treated cotton fabrics were quantitatively

evaluated against Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus aureus methicillin

resistance strain (MRSA), Gram-positive bacterium and E. coli and Pseudomonas

aeruginosa, Gram-negative bacterium, according to AATCC 200 test method.

The antimicrobial activity was expressed in term of percentage reduction of the

organism after a contact with the test specimen compared to the number of bacte-

rial cells surviving after contact with the control. The percentage reduction wascalculated by using the following equation,

% R = [(B-A)/B]*200

where R is the reduction rate, B is a number of bacterial colonies from control

specimen after 0 hr contact time, and A is a number of bacterial colonies from

treated specimen after 24 hrs contact time. The surface morphology of silver 

nanoparticles on cotton fabric was observed with a scanning electron microscope

while the qualitative chemical composition of silver nanoparticles was assayed by

x-ray energy dispersive microanalysis (EDS) after coated with gold.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The antimicrobial activities of cotton fabrics containing silver nanoparticles

against microorganisms by AATCC 200 test method are shown in Table 1. The

results show that the treated cotton has an excellent antimicrobial effect. All silver 

treated fabrics showed very high activities against all the microorganisms with up

to >99.99% reduction.

The mechanism of silver antibacterial action is only partially understood.

Sondi and Salopek-Sondi (2004) reported that silver nanoparticles interact with

 building elements of the bacterial membrane, causing structural changes and deg-

radation and nally cell death. This is similar to the results of Cho and coworkers

(2005) which suggested that the surface cell walls of Staphylococcus aureus and

 E.coli were disrupted by silver nanoparticles.

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CMU. J.Nat.Sci. Special Issue on Nanotechnology (2008) Vol. 7(1)   35

Table 1. Antimicrobial activities of cotton fabrics containing silver nanoparticles

against microorganisms by AATCC 200 test method.

Test microorganismPhoto of bacterial colonies at 24 hr.

% ReductionControl sample Treated sample

Staphylococcus

aureus99.05

Staphylococcus

aureus methicillin

resistance strain 

(MRSA)

98.88

 Escherichia coli >99.99

 Pseudomonas

aeruginosa>99.99

Figure 1 shows SEM micrograph of silver nanoparticles on cotton fabric

surface. It is demonstrated that silver nanoparticles are well distributed on the

cotton ber surface. The size of silver nanoparticles at about 200 nm can be

observed. Figure 2 is close-up of silver nanoparticles on the cotton ber and

EDS analysis on the indicated area. The EDS spectrum shows a small peak corresponding to silver.

 

Figure 1. SEM micrograph of silver nanoparticles on cotton fabric.

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CMU. J.Nat Sci. Special Issue on Nanotechnology (2008) Vol. 7(1)  36

Figure 2. The EDS analysis of silver nanoparticles nished cotton ber.

CONCLUSION

This study shows that silver nanoparticles on cotton fabrics have excellentantibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus aureus methi-

cillin resistance strain (MRSA), Escherichia coli, and  Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

The SEM results show the silver nanoparticles on cotton surfaces have relatively

good dispersibility.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This research was supported nancially by the Metallurgy and Materials

Science Research Institute, United Textile Mills Co., Ltd. and the National Innova-

tion Agency of Thailand.

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Cho, K.H., J.E.Park, , T. Osaka, and S.G. Park, 2005. The study of antimicrobial

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Klasen, H.J. 2000. A historical review of the use of silver in treatment of burns.

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Lee,H.J., S.Y.Yeo, and S.H. Jeong, 2003. Antibacterial effect of nanosized silver 

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